Citation and License

BMC Dermatology 2013, 13:2
doi:10.1186/1471-5945-13-2

Published: 23 January 2013

Abstract

Background

Sebaceous glands are components of the skin essential for its normal lubrication by
the production of sebum. This contributes to skin health and more importantly is crucial
for the skin barrier function. A mechanistic understanding of sebaceous gland cells
growth and differentiation has lagged behind that for keratinocytes, partly because
of a lack of an in vitro model that can be used for experimental manipulation.

Methods

We have developed an in vitro culture model to isolate and grow primary human sebocytes
without transformation that display functional characteristics of sebocytes. We used
this novel method to probe the effect of Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFβ) signaling
on sebocyte differentiation, by examining the expression of genes involved in lipogenesis
upon treatment with TGFβ1. We also repressed TGFβ signaling through knockdown of the
TGFβ Receptor II to address if the effect of TGFβ activation is mediated via canonical Smad signal
transduction.

Results

We find that activation of the TGFβ signaling pathway is necessary and sufficient
for maintaining sebocytes in an undifferentiated state. The presence of TGFβ ligand
triggered decreased expression in genes required for the production of characteristics
sebaceous lipids and for sebocyte differentiation such as FADS2 and PPARγ, thereby decreasing lipid accumulation through the TGFβ RII-Smad2 dependent pathway.

Conclusion

TGFβ signaling plays an essential role in sebaceous gland regulation by maintaining
sebocytes in an undifferentiated state. This data was generated using a novel method
for human sebocyte culture, which is likely to prove generally useful in investigations
of sebaceous gland growth and differentiation. These findings open a new paradigm
in human skin biology with important implications for skin therapies.